By Jeff Glucker
The Land Rover Defender 110 can be found for sale in a variety of pockets throughout the country. The average asking price hovers somewhere between “Are you serious?” to “Man that’s some great crack you have!”
This 1985 Defender 110 being sold on Craigslist manages to find its price tag firmly in the realm of “…huh, that’s actually a great price.”
Here’s the full description from the ad:
This listing is for a original Land Rover 110. This car has been imported from Europe earlier this year. It passed customs inspection without any problems.
After I got it here in Michigan I put in an original 200Tdi (turbo diesel) engine from a later model Land Rover. Now it can cruise on highway speed !
This is one of the better Defenders you will find. Frame is all solid, no rust on bulkhead and door frames. Tires almost new, interior nice, body good.
Some imperfections: paint damage on rear door, rust on one door frame, rust on C-pillar and a small dent in rear quarter panel.
Car comes with clear MI title.
The asking price is an even $25,000. You could have a Ford Escape… or you could be awesome. Your choice.
[Source: Craigslist]
"It passed customs inspection without any problems."
That's nice and all, but in my experience this doesn't necessarily mean much more than (a) it wasn't obviously laden with contraband and (b) the undercarriage looked like it had been steam cleaned. Customs seems to take both points equally seriously.
Is the stream cleaning essential to ensuring no evil British muck makes it into the country?
No, the vehicle itself is allowed to enter.
(Actually yes, but not just British muck. The USDA gets quite freaked out over any possibility that uncontrolled foreign soil might bring unwanted organisms into the US. This also comes up in geology: I know a researcher who made the mistake of calling some sedimentary rocks "fossilized soils" on the Customs forms and wound up waiting over a year for the samples to clear a very expensive quarantine process. Calling them "rocks" would have been just fine.)
Well, of course there's a HUGE difference. Wouldn't you rather ROCK your underpants than SOIL them (fossilized or not)?
This is a much cooler deal than the 1993 Defender 110 you posted a week ago…
* rim shot *
<img src="https://www.gcsurplus.ca/ic-ci/images/FS365414-334810.jpg" width="500" img="">
Sure, you could get a clean, usable Defender with four doors and a proper back seat. Or you could get one of these! The Canadian government lists them for sale semi-frequently (there's four online right now), and they've mostly sold for $5-8k.
<img src="http://azr.cdnmedia.autotrader.ca/1/photos/201412/2414/0123/9dba6dd3-63ee-4b14-992e-1e9e7b4abc59.jpg?w=800&h=600" width="500" img="">
That said, <a href="http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Land+Rover/Defender+90/TORONTO/Ontario/19_8529515_/?showcpo=ShowCPO&orup=1_15_6">this Defender 90 is still reasonably priced, road-ready, and much closer to me.
Is it even possible to bring one of those Canadian defenders into the country?
Those are CHEAP
I don't see why not, provided it's at least 25 years old. The paperwork at both the Federal and State levels might be a bit trickier since, from what I've seen, these wouldn't come with a history of Canadian vehicle registration, but that's probably only slightly problematic inasmuch as they would come with Canadian governmental sales documents. California registration, of course, is almost certainly out of the question for road use.
Best I can say is two of them are 24 years old, so if you're patient, yes?
It's a little scary that is a good price… Maybe it's just me, but the most expensive used car I ever bought was only a little more than this, and it was still the same model year as the year I bought it, ie essentially new. Not too say that I wouldn't love to have this though. I find a few aspects mildly worrying, one is this hole:
<img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7475/16055912557_bb0340f8c6_o.jpg">
And the other is the duality of these statements: "no rust on bulkhead and door frames" vs. "rust on one door frame.
That's easily explained: there may be rust on a door frame, but there is no rust that is on the bulkhead AND the door frame at the same time. 😉
I feel like such a paranoid, but really:
You go to the trouble to find a Land Rover "in Europe" and fragglehaggle it through the bureaucracy. Then you go to the trouble to find and install a turbo diesel. Then, a few months later you dump it on Craiglist cheap.
What's wrong with picture? Nothing? Or something that ended the Rover-romance for him?
Surpassed the limit of the missus' patience (the Land Rover goes or I do!)? Overextended himself on credit to get it, then realized he doesn't like the truck as much as he likes being financially stable?
Could be many, many reasons.
Got me looking at Wranglers… a Willys 4×4 in Tank clear coat is $30k MSRP meaning a good negotiator can get you to $26k.
Dang.
I thought Land Rovers had aluminum bodies. Wouldn't it be corrosion, and not rust?
You get both, while the outer panels are aluminum, the bulkhead (the combined firewall, cowl, a pillar and front foot well assemble), door frames and 4 door station wagon b pillars are steel and rust, which often creates galvanic corrosion in the adjacent aluminum. Door skins are particularly vulnerable as are rear floors.
I don't understand the obsession with these. I drove a short wheel base 90 version a few times back in late 90s when they were still for sale in US. Hated it. It was big, bulky, trucky and hard to see out of. Of course I never went offroad in it but how many people will take their $25K+ car offroad often? Aren't there cheaper options for this?
These Landies are great, right? I watched Wild Kingdom as a kid, too. Strong as an anvil, but simpler. Except the woods of Vermont used to be full of them, parked off in the trees beyond the winter woodpile. Not worth it to tow them away for scrap. Seems they do break. And they're nutty to repair. I applaud anyone who wants to buy, maintain and operate one.
Everyone who really thinks you can drive this on higway speeds never tried it. This guy did. And now sells it. Smart guy.